Elevator safety device.



P.1. PHOKGP. ELEVATOR SAFETY BE'WCEa APPLICATION FILED JUNE 19, 1915.

Patented Feb. 8, 1916.

WITNESSES A TTOH/VEYS 6 having a drum an electrical circuit by PROKOP JACK PROKOP, OF YORK, N. Y.

ELEVATOR SAFETY DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 19, 1915. Serial No. 35,002.

gary, and a resident of New York, county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevator Safety Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to elevators used.

for transporting passengers and freight from floor to floor in buildings, particularly that type employing suspension cables for the car, and the main object thereof is to provide means for automatically stopping a car in its descent in the event of the breaking of the cables.

A further object is to accomplish this result by electrical means, by the opening of the breaking of one of its conductors located in one of the cables.

A further object is to accomplish the stopping of the descent of the car in a yield ing manner to avoid the jar or jerk incidental to otherwise stopping the same. And further objects are to provide such a safety device which may be installed in elevator systems already in use, which is positive, practical, and simple, and which is comparatively inexpensive.

My invention is fully described in the following specification, of which the accompanying drawings form apart, in which like characters refer to like parts in each of the views, and in which Figure 1 is a view of an elevator shaft having a cable suspended car provided with my invention, this view being merely to show the relationship of parts; Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of my invention in normal position, with a fragment of the shaft; Fig. 3 is a similar view with the device in operative position after the cables have parted; Fig. 4 is a plan view of the movable parts which I employ: and Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a slide which I use.

In Fig. 1 I have shown an elevator-shaft 7 at the top thereof for a cable 8 which carries a car 9, only one cable being shown although a plurality are usually employed, and said shaft may be provided with the usual or any desired form of guides for the car, those not being shown as they "form no part of this invention.

Arranged at opposite sides of the car andsecured to the shaft 6 in any desired manner is a rod 10 upon which is coiled a spring'll provided at intervals with. cleats 1-2 of any fl spaced at any'desired 7 6i) desired number and distance apart, said spring being secured at the top of the shaft 6 and extending practically to the bottom thereof, this spring be ing loosely coiled on the rod to permit a degree of cleat movement longitudinally of the rod.

Carried by the car in any desired position is a slide 13 movable outwardly of the car in a horizontal plane and when so moved being adapted to straddle the respective rod 10 and engage the respective cleat 12, the forward end of the slide being bifurcated to accomplish this result; a strong coil spring 14 is provided to force the slide outwardly, and a handle 15 is provided to retract the same when desired.

Pivoted at 16 to the car, in line with the respective slide, is a latch 17 the hooked end of which is adapted to engage the slide when in its innermost position by means of a notch 18 in the latter, whereby said slide is rendered inoperative and the car may ascend and descend in the usual manner, and I provide a spring 19 at the inner end of the latch 17 to move the same out of slide engaging position when permitted to do so.

The latch 17 actually the armature for a strong electro-magnet 20 arranged over the inner end thereof and which, when energized, will hold the latch in slide engaging position, as is clearly shown. The coil of this magnet is in electrical connection with a source of electrical energy 21 shown in Fig. 1 by means of conductors 22 and 23, one of which is formed of, around, or in the cable 8, this circuit being closed at all times when the car is in operation.

In the event of the cable breaking, the electrical connection is broken, thus permitting the spring 19 to lift the hooked end of the latch 17 out of slide engaging position to permit the spring l-l to force the slide outwardly into cleat engaging position. 1V hen so engaged, the'slide, and therefore the car, is carried by the coil spring 11 which yields under the impact and gradually takes' the load, thereby avoiding any sudden or erk, sine the wire formsa d spring 11, as well as the material Patented'Feb. 8, 191a.

of which it is composed, being calculated according to the estimated load, figuring on a loaded car. The car is held in this position until the cable is repaired and the load again assumed thereby, after which the slide may be manually retracted and again engaged by the latch now attracted to the magnet by the closing of the circuit in which it is arranged.

If desired, the two conductors may be in the cable, or in tWo cables, these having no connection with any part of the apparatus other than the magnet and the source of energy, and I may make other changes over the details shown and described, within the scope of the following claim, without departing from the spirit of the invention or sacrificing its advantages, the illustration being to an extent diagrammatic.

Having fully described my invention,

7 shaft extending from top to bottom thereof,

a coil spring on said rod, and cleats on said spring at intervals for slide engagement when in outermost position.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

PROKOP JACK PROKOP.

WVitnesses LoUIs WILLIAMs, ERIK HEATING. 

